Oct. 28, 2025

Lizzie McCollom

Lizzie McCollom is an Assistant Research Professor within the Department of Special Education. She earned her PhD in school psychology from the University of Missouri and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Southern Methodist University. Her research interests include academic and behavioral interventions, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), data-based individualization (DBI), and implementation science.

Aug. 2, 2023

Angus Kittelman

Angus Kittelman is an Assistant Professor within the Department of Special Education. His research areas include positive behavioral interventions and supports, implementation science, and developing, implementing, and evaluating school-based interventions for adolescents with or at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties. Angus has received funding from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education/Education Innovation and Research (EIR), The Spencer Foundation, and The Cinelli Family Foundation. He is the recipient of the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) University of Missouri Outstanding Research and Scholarship Early Career Award in 2026, the…

Aug. 1, 2023

Benjamin Mason

Benjamin Mason, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Special Education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri. After a decade serving youth in psychiatric and educational settings, he completed his PhD in School Psychology (2012) from Texas A&M University with concentrations in Special and Bilingual Education. Dr. Mason’s research focuses on improving the lives of school-aged children, particularly those most at risk of school failure. He has engaged in two distinct lines of research: (1) developing and evaluating academic and behavioral interventions for students with mild disabilities, and (2) identifying and measuring psychosocial variables…

July 24, 2023

Jamie Day

Dr. Day is currently recruiting three doctoral scholars for the BEACON Special Education PhD program starting Fall 2027. Please visit www.leadingwithbeacon.com to learn more. Dr. Jamie Day is an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the College of Education and Human Development. Broadly, her research revolves around strategies to attract, prepare, and retain effective personnel for all multilingual students with disabilities. This includes researching special education teacher preparation and evidence-based literacy interventions for multilingual students participating in the special education process. Dr. Day is a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia where she examined technology-based literacy interventions…

July 24, 2023

Nargiza Buranova

Dr. Nargiza Buranova completed her Ph.D. in Special Education at the University of Missouri. She has worked on several federally funded research projects including the vSocial project that aimed to develop an immersive online social training environment for youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Dr. Buranova’s research focuses on social skills intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder and technologies to support the social skills development of students. Dr. Buranova is also interested in studying the impact of social skills performance on mental health and the ways the interventions can be used to support these skills among adolescents…

July 6, 2023

Cassandra Smith

Dr. Cassandra M. Smith completed her PhD and certificate in Quantitative Methods at the University of Missouri. Formerly, Dr. Smith was a middle and high school mathematics special education teacher in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. Dr. Smith’s research focuses on identifying, developing, and disseminating evidence-based algebra instruction and intervention practices for secondary students with disabilities. This includes supporting pre-service and in-service teachers implement evidence-based mathematics practices. In addition to her research, Dr. Smith is a project lead for a federally funded research program: Scalability, Capacity, and Learning Engagement for Underserved Populations (SCALE-UP; funding from the U.S. Department…

June 27, 2023

Rose Osnaya

Rose Osnaya is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst whose research focuses on increasing access to effective interventions for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities by addressing both intervention development and implementation. Utilizing an implementation science framework, ecobehavior assessment methods are utilized to identify barriers to implementation of evidence-based practices through partnerships with schools or service organizations. Information obtained is then utilized to develop and evaluate training methods that address these barriers. For example, she recently utilized single-case methodology to evaluate the impact of a teacher-as-coach model to train paraprofessionals who work with students with autism and developmental disabilities to implement…